North of Eden
by Neil

Comment:
I sat this one out but went browsing (no voting) through the galleries during voting and missed seeing this beauty. While I don't get the strong impresssion of 'brush strokes' I think you nailed the painting impressionism style of compositional shapes, bright colors, and play of light on main elements. Love that soft focus or glow that causes these flowers to really reach out and grab the viewer's attention - and it was accomplished by simple hairspray on the camera filter! (I am going to have to try that sometime). This is a lovely piece.

stillife3.jpg
by MAK

Comment:
I really like the compositional elements of this still life study. It has many interesting shapes, colors and textures throughout the composition for the eye to study. While it doesn't have the bang-up impact of your impressionism challenge entry it still is a impressive capture that I think would be better if you did away with the PS filters (that is if you did add them to give this a painterly effect). This would *really* shine more if you just let the straight from the camera with no 'artist brush' applied come through - I could see both of these Impressionistic Photos hanging in a gallery somewhere.

Still Life with Peaches
by MAK

Comment:
Excellent job on composition of this still life for the lighting and elements really carry it off as an oil painting. Your friend's eye really helped you nail it in this photo. Love the lighting, the colors, shapes and textures one sees in this still life photo study.

Morning conversations
by Melethia

Comment:
Love the warm golds and oranges in this photograph. It really captures the feel and mood of an early morning with that the nice warm glow. The reeds bend to a gentle breeze as the sun casts is warm golden orange rays upon the water. Minimilistic in the composition but beautifully and elegantly captured. Well done. My only critique is that I think it would be better to have an either plain white, black or thin line white with predominant black border to compliment the shot. The yellow-orange one here I think detracts some attention away from those lovely golds & orange tones within your picture.

Blowing in the wind
by unneva

Comment:
Love the composition here with the three horses grazing in the open field. Lighting is beautiful particularly on the foreground horse where we can see the lovely shine on the horse's mane blowing in the wind. Love the colors and tones. My only critique is that I wish that there was more lighting to illuminate the horse on the left so that we can see more of the features of the head/face. That horse is too much in shadow and if it was illuminated better (difficult because with a flash fill you risk loosing those wonderful highlights and glow on the foreground horse) we would get to see more of these beautiful creatures facial features in the composition as a whole (as it is the back horse is the only one we partially see because the forground horse's face is lost to his/her grazing)

White Squirrel
by JuliBoc

Comment:
Wow, what a beauty this is! On a recent trip to NC I learned about the white squirrels thought to be only located in/surrounding the town of Brevard (Brevard County). Beautiful creatures - I was a tad disappointed in not spotting one. You are very lucky to have seen one as well as wonderfully capture this beauty on 'film'. Side note I have to ask: does this mean one can see them down here in S. Florida?!?!?!

Message edited by author 2007-09-06 09:08:42.

take the plunge
by gliphix

Comment:
I love the expressions and the action going on here in this underwater shot. Shooting underwater has got to have many challenges to overcome to get a good picture I would think. You captured the joyful mood and emotion hands down. But, as much as I like the action, the sharp details of the models, their facial expressions and body pose I still think there is room to improve this image. First, the shadows cast at the bottom of the pool distract from the models I would have liked to see them free floating in the watery space for twofold reasons. Having them hang in space give the impression of weightlessness and fluid motion as they take the plunge. Second, there would be no distracting shadow to take attention away from the action going on or the models. Next the contrast seems a bit flat mayhap that is from the water reflections, the exposure or both. Bumping up the contrast levels or highlight/shadows would make this pop visually a bit more. I have been debating whether to suggest if this would look better in B&W as opposed to color. The advantage of the B&W is that if the conversion is done right is that the tones, textures and main subjects would visually pop off from their watery green-blue environment/background. The disadvantage is that it might not be readily recognizable as an underwater scene. Still a very good action and emotive scene - bumping up to a 7.

An invaluable drop of time
by zxaar

Comment:
I think the lighting in this photograph is excellent for it acts as a soft spotlight that directs our attention immediately to the child's closed eye & the delicate tear that is running down the face. It immediately moves the viewer to compassion - we want to soothe away the hurt or fear that this child may have; we want to reach out and wipe away that tear. You did an excellent job of establishing an emotional connection with your viewers! Beautifully captured and beautifully presented.

Tribute to "O Vento" by Wendell Penedo
by JustinM

Comment:
O.K. I was intrigued, so I googled O Vento by Wendell Penedo. I must say you did a bang up job on the tribute! With the exception of the change of stance, object the man holds, ruffled umbrellas, and featureless sky you really capture the surreal mood and feel that that is present in Penedo's image. My critiques on this piece is that I wish you stayed with a clean line sharp-edged umbrella rather than the ruffled edges because it just gives a nice clean lines to the overall image especially when you have the repeated umbrellas that are further away because the out of focus look gives them a ragged pieces taken out of them look. Next is that it seems to much of an unnatural (not to mention uncomfortable) stance that the man is holding up the umbrella that high. Bringing down the arm to a more comfortable level would make it seem less awkward and thus a bit more natural.

P A T I E N C E
by Art Roflmao

Comment:
Yike! Look at the sideways feral glance this big cat gives! He/she really looks like they are sizing us up as it's next meal. Love the pose it is in - looks like it is waiting for the right moment to pounce. Details and lighting are great. My critique is that I think you could bring us closer to your main subject by either a closer crop or zoom to fill the frame with as much of this big cat as possible. Not only would it spotlight this dangerous beauty but it would make us feel & see that stare even more.